H.S. BOYS HOCKEY: Oliver Ames falls to North Attleboro 3-1

Oliver Ames did not find the net until the third period, as it fell to North Attleboro 3-1 at Asiaf Arena in Brockton on Monday night.

John O'Callaghan The Enterprise JOCallaghan_ENT

BROCKTON – Too little, too late.

The Oliver Ames High boys hockey team did not find the net until the third period, as it fell to North Attleboro, 3-1, at Asiaf Arena on Monday night.

The Tigers (9-5-1) struggled to get into a groove offensively in the first period, as North Attleboro (11-3-2) controlled the puck for most of the stanza, including taking advantage of its first power-play opportunity when Connor Ford netted one off a give-and-go (assist by Kyle Bolger) to give the visitors a 1-0 edge at 7:49.

“It was probably our worst first period of hockey we’ve played all year; they knew it right away,” Oliver Ames coach Sean Bertoni said. “I didn’t have to say much in between periods. It’s about physical, it’s about playing disciplined, it’s about outworking the other team, using our team speed, and it showed in the sticks.”

After a scoreless second period, North Attleboro added to its lead after captain Erik Clements sniped one into the top right corner (assists by Zachary McGowan and Paul Yeomans) to go up 2-0 at 13:06 of the final period.

Oliver Ames was determined not to be shutout, as it took advantage when Red Rocketeers goalie Ryan Warren (17 saves) came out of the crease to try and cover up a puck only to have a scrum of players battle for it, which led to Eric LeBlanc (unassisted) cutting the deficit to 2-1 with 7:59 remaining in the game.

With the game hanging in the balance, Oliver Ames pulled freshman goalie Owen Connor (19 saves), who played like a veteran in his first high school hockey game. Clements, however, continued to be a thorn in the Tigers’ side, scoring his second tally of the evening at 1:06 (assists by Andrew Wissler and Vincent Zammiel) to put the contest out of reach at 3-1.

“Our starting goalie was out sick, (Owen’s) a freshman and he was phenomenal tonight, he really was,” Bertoni said.

The game could have gotten out of hand when North Attleboro had a two-on-none breakaway opportunity that was destined to be a goal before Connor made a save, going from left to right, with his shoulder pad that kept the Tigers’ hopes alive.

The strong play has Bertoni contemplating on giving the young netminder more minutes between the pipes.

“If he plays like (that, he will) absolutely (be getting more time),” Bertoni said. “He gave up a power-play goal, two-on-one, and the second goal he gave up the kid roofed it, it went crossbar and in. And our defensemen didn’t man up and hold the blue line and it was just a poor one-on-one play, so he was by far the best player on the ice.”

The Tigers’ struggled on their power-play opportunities, unable to convert on four chances in the game.

“The first one (power play) was kind of lackluster, we needed more sense of urgency, get on the puck, gain puck possession and then move it from low-to-high and high-to-low, try to outnumber them,” Bertoni said. “I thought we did a better job later in the game with our power play, but a lot of it is net-front presence, taking the goalies’ eyes, getting shots to the net and crashing the net.”